First of all, how fun is it that this former teacher has a #CLASSROOM in a corner of her home!? I can’t get over how lucky I am to roll out of bed in the morning and walk across the hall to go to work. So. Stinking. Fun. I never thought this would be my job.
Our home doesn’t have a closed room that works specifically for my classroom. Our family computer was already living in a corner of our kid’s playroom, and I really didn’t want to relocate this work station when I started teaching. After teaching for a couple of weeks turned sideways at my desk, with the laptop balanced on a shoebox so that I could have a wall behind me… I started thinking outside of the box.
I ended up ordering a collapsible clothing rack, a large metal drip pan, and rigged up a portable background for myself! It turned out to work perfectly for me. I can roll out my background to teach and I can stow it out of the way when my boys wake up and are ready to play.
I chose to spray paint the drip pan with black chalk board paint and attached it to the clothing rack with zip ties. I love that the drip pan is #MAGNETIC!! It’s super easy to switch up my decorations for the seasons. I also have magnets on the back of my whiteboard and my name tag. I can easily grab them to hold them closer to the camera during class whenever I need to! For my props and decorations, I like to use these magnets. My oil drip pan is 47” x 25” like this one. However, check your local auto stores (like AutoZone, O’Reilly’s, Walmart because they will be cheaper in store).
For my classroom lighting, I use our overhead room lights, a lamp (with a bright bulb), and a LED gooseneck light that I found at Aldi. If you are stuck with lighting, here are some tips: Be sure that you have a light source for each side of your face (to avoid shadows). I found that using lamps with a shade or pointing my gooseneck light toward to wall (instead of on my face) helps with the dreaded glare issue in the camera. Also, make sure that your background is as well-lit as your face is.
As mentioned in my previous post on #props, I keep all of my props within reach. Some are in a little bin on my desk, some stored under my computer in this cute little desk shelf, and I have one desk drawer designated for my puppets, markers, silly costume props, etc. Easy peasy!
This classroom definitely took some time to evolve and I had to start teaching before I really knew what I wanted for my set up. So, if you’re just beginning, I’d totally recommend teaching a few classes before deciding on a long term classroom set up. AND, although I ended up spending a bit of my earnings on my background, know that it's not at all necessary to have anything more elaborate than a blank wall and a dollar store ABC chart! The point is that you feel CONFIDENT to make your students feel EXCITED about learning when they enter your classroom!
I’d love to hear from you! Do you teach in front of a wall or in front of a portable backdrop? How often do you switch up your background decorations? And WHERE in your home do you teach?
<3 Teacher Chelsea
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